Lifestraw
Water Purifier
2005 (designed), 2016 (manufactured)
2005 (designed), 2016 (manufactured)
| Artist/Maker |
Adequate access to clean drinking water is a worldwide problem. According to a study by the World Health Organisation, as of 2015, 663 million people around the world still lacked access to clean drinking water. Lifestraw is portable hand-held water filter, designed by Vestergaard which can filter out waterborne bacteria and parasites from water sources through the device’s cylindrical straw.
The idea for the LifeStraw started in 1994 when the Atlanta-based Carter Center, a non-profit public policy centre dedicated to fighting disease, hunger, poverty and oppression approached Vestergaard to help develop a filter that could be used to remove Guinea worm larvae from water. The filter originally came in the form of a piece of cloth. However, Dr. Ruiz-Tiben, the director of the Guinea worm programme, then observed that Tuareg nomads in Mali would pack the Guinea worm filters into short plastic pipes so that they could drink directly from puddles and so the idea evolved in 1999 into a more effective cylindrical form.
The inside of the LifeStraw is made up of a bundle of hollow fibres, each of which is dotted with small holes with a diameter of 0.2 microns. The device works by trapping pathogens in the straw within these membrane-like fibres, leaving only clean water to escape.
The first design of the Lifestraw used iodine to kill bacteria, but since 2012 the straw contains no chemicals. It is designed to be durable and easy to use, and as the device does not require any chemicals, electricity of batteries it is usable in almost any type of environment. The LifeStraw is cheaper and more portable than bottled water and so is an effective solution for those drinking from contaminated water sources and in environmental disasters. It has a lifetime capacity of filtering 1000 litres.
The Lifestraw was acquired as part of the Shekou Project, an international partnership between the V&A and China Merchant Shekou Holdings (CMSK) to open a new cultural platform called Design Society in Shekou. The Lifestraw was included in the inaugural exhibition, ‘Values of Design’, in the V&A Gallery at Design Society in a section which discussed how design can help address and solve problems, in this case the issue of access to clean water.
The idea for the LifeStraw started in 1994 when the Atlanta-based Carter Center, a non-profit public policy centre dedicated to fighting disease, hunger, poverty and oppression approached Vestergaard to help develop a filter that could be used to remove Guinea worm larvae from water. The filter originally came in the form of a piece of cloth. However, Dr. Ruiz-Tiben, the director of the Guinea worm programme, then observed that Tuareg nomads in Mali would pack the Guinea worm filters into short plastic pipes so that they could drink directly from puddles and so the idea evolved in 1999 into a more effective cylindrical form.
The inside of the LifeStraw is made up of a bundle of hollow fibres, each of which is dotted with small holes with a diameter of 0.2 microns. The device works by trapping pathogens in the straw within these membrane-like fibres, leaving only clean water to escape.
The first design of the Lifestraw used iodine to kill bacteria, but since 2012 the straw contains no chemicals. It is designed to be durable and easy to use, and as the device does not require any chemicals, electricity of batteries it is usable in almost any type of environment. The LifeStraw is cheaper and more portable than bottled water and so is an effective solution for those drinking from contaminated water sources and in environmental disasters. It has a lifetime capacity of filtering 1000 litres.
The Lifestraw was acquired as part of the Shekou Project, an international partnership between the V&A and China Merchant Shekou Holdings (CMSK) to open a new cultural platform called Design Society in Shekou. The Lifestraw was included in the inaugural exhibition, ‘Values of Design’, in the V&A Gallery at Design Society in a section which discussed how design can help address and solve problems, in this case the issue of access to clean water.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Lifestraw (manufacturer's title) |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | LifeStraw, a water purifier, designed by Vestergaard, 2005. Manufactured in 2016. |
| Physical description | A plastic tube with a cap at one end and a straw at the other. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Given by Vestergaard |
| Object history | The Lifestraw was included in ‘Values of Design’ at the V&A Gallery, Design Society in Shenzhen, China in 2017. |
| Summary | Adequate access to clean drinking water is a worldwide problem. According to a study by the World Health Organisation, as of 2015, 663 million people around the world still lacked access to clean drinking water. Lifestraw is portable hand-held water filter, designed by Vestergaard which can filter out waterborne bacteria and parasites from water sources through the device’s cylindrical straw. The idea for the LifeStraw started in 1994 when the Atlanta-based Carter Center, a non-profit public policy centre dedicated to fighting disease, hunger, poverty and oppression approached Vestergaard to help develop a filter that could be used to remove Guinea worm larvae from water. The filter originally came in the form of a piece of cloth. However, Dr. Ruiz-Tiben, the director of the Guinea worm programme, then observed that Tuareg nomads in Mali would pack the Guinea worm filters into short plastic pipes so that they could drink directly from puddles and so the idea evolved in 1999 into a more effective cylindrical form. The inside of the LifeStraw is made up of a bundle of hollow fibres, each of which is dotted with small holes with a diameter of 0.2 microns. The device works by trapping pathogens in the straw within these membrane-like fibres, leaving only clean water to escape. The first design of the Lifestraw used iodine to kill bacteria, but since 2012 the straw contains no chemicals. It is designed to be durable and easy to use, and as the device does not require any chemicals, electricity of batteries it is usable in almost any type of environment. The LifeStraw is cheaper and more portable than bottled water and so is an effective solution for those drinking from contaminated water sources and in environmental disasters. It has a lifetime capacity of filtering 1000 litres. The Lifestraw was acquired as part of the Shekou Project, an international partnership between the V&A and China Merchant Shekou Holdings (CMSK) to open a new cultural platform called Design Society in Shekou. The Lifestraw was included in the inaugural exhibition, ‘Values of Design’, in the V&A Gallery at Design Society in a section which discussed how design can help address and solve problems, in this case the issue of access to clean water. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CD.98-2016 |
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| Record created | March 1, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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